Rise of the Wolf
by Mephisteron
Summary: A newly turned vampire is dragged into the world of intrigue and murder of the Sylvanian vampire courts. A pawn in a deadly game of politics, he must come to terms not only with his present existence, but with his past life as well or die in the attempt.


Please RnR

Any suggestions are welcome. Any requests are welcome as well.

* * *

The thunder cracked the sky in half, torrential rain pouring down from the purplish sky. A thick veil of fog clung the the trunks of trees and the dark gravel road. A black coach rolled across the road, kicking up waves of water as it crashed through puddles that formed in the roads pot holes. Inside the carriage, three men sit silently, their eyes fixed upon a wooden coffin that rests between their feet. As the carriage bounces once more, one of the men looks up angrily, only to look away cowed as the man across from him gives him a glare. The third man leans back in his seat, closing his eyes and waiting for sleep. A small knocking noise makes all three men sit straight up. The knocking persists, growing louder and louder until with a spray of splintering wood, the coffin lid flies off, the figure inside rising up with a feral scream. Immediately, the three men burst into action. Wooden cudgels descend, beating the man in the coffin senseless. Once the man had been subdued, the three men leaned back in their seats once more, resuming their positions of drowsy boredom. The tallest of the three men reached up and rapped sharply on the roof of the carriage.

"Teufelheim Manor. The baron is waiting."

The carriage driver snapped his whip and the black coach sped off into the fog.

* * *

Baron Pietros Ludwig Himmeltros von Carstein winced in annoyance as the thunder roared out once more. A narcissistic, foppish man, Pietros had a strong dislike for anything that was not directly related to himself or his station within the court. The baron ran a hand over the lithe body lying beside him on the floor of his room, pausing for a moment when his had reached the girl's ruined throat. Pietros had fed well. Slowly, the vampire rose to his feet his naked skin padding softly as he crossed the room to wrap himself in a flowing red robe and return to his seat by a roaring fire at the far end of his chambers. The baron stared, hypnotized, as the flames leapt and crackled, casting long shadows across the room. A series of raps on the door made the baron turn in his chair.

"My baron, your servants have returned."

Three men entered the room, two of them of medium height and build, the last a tall, lanky man clad in an ornate suit of dark red armor. The two shorter men carried the limp body of a man between them, his face cracked and bloody.

"Ah, Tauer." Pietros drawled. "All went as planned I trust?'

The tall man nodded crisply, waving his two companions forwards. The men dumped the naked body they held unceremoniously on the floor and retired back behind Tauer. The unconscious man's body was covered in an incredible series of complex tattoos, small roses wrapped around hour glasses, scythes cutting down angels, and on the man's back, a black sword piercing a full moon. Thousands of minute passages from what Pietros guessed was a holy scripture dotted the man's chest and arms, and two winged skeletons flanked the man's upper arms. After a few moments, the baron grew bored with deciphering the man's strange images and waved Tauer forwards.

"Bring him to my chair." The tall man bowed, seizing the tattooed man by his hair and dragged him to Pietros. With a savage bite, Pietros's long fangs dug deep into the tattooed man's neck. Blood sprayed across Pietros's robe, staining the red robe a dark purple. The man screamed in pain as he awoke from unconsciousness. Swiftly, Pietros shoved his bare right arm into the man's mouth, forcing the man to bite down. Tauer wrapped his hands around the man's jaw, squeezing inexorably, until Pietros's skin tore, and the vampire's tainted blood flowed into the man's mouth. Immediately, the man collapsed. Chest heaving, the man slowly bled to death on the floor, beside the corpse of the girl Pietros had feasted upon not an hour before.

"Chain him up in the north cloister. There should be an open cell there somewhere. Take Dietrich and Vladamir with you. They stink." Pietros murmured, his mouth slick with blood.

"Yes milord." Tauer hissed, the man's face strained as he stared longingly at the blood that lay in puddles on the floor.

* * *

It was a full hour before Tauer could find an unoccupied cell. Each of the long halls held dozens of rooms, each occupied by the petty vampire nobles, necromancers, and creatures that the baron fancied in his entourage. The entourage itself was immense, roughly a hundred of lesser vampires, most of them barely worthy of notice. Only three vampires besides the baron himself held any substantive power beyond the manor itself. Deitrich and Vladamir Rostoff, the Twin Butchers of Teufelheim, and Tauer himself. The twins shuffled behind Tauer, snickering in sick humor as they dragged the body of the baron's latest plaything behind them. Tauer sneered in disgust. The twins had no honor. They were murderers and thieves, not fit to hold status in any vampire court, even one so low as that of Teufelheim. At last, Tauer came to an empty cell. A wooden bed sat in one corner, a chair and writing desk in another. Opening the cell door, Tauer motioned the twins forward. The pair shoved past Tauer and dumped the body in the center of the room.

"Get him clothing. It would be embarrassing if the barons latest get had to appear before the court naked." Tauer snapped, glaring at the smirking twins.

"Why? Because his cock might be bigger than yours old man?" snickered Dietrich. The vampire's snicker turned into a screech of pain as Tauer's spiked knee plate stabbed him in the groin.

"No" the tall vampire growled. "But his is definitely bigger than yours."

Before either Vladamir or Deitrich could reply, Tauer turned and marched away, leaving Vladamir supporting his brother as blood poured from the wound that had once been Deitrich's genitals. As he walked away, Tauer fancied he heard Deitrich spit a death threat in his direction. Let the bastard fume. His groin would heal, probably before morning, but his pride wouldn't. Tauer could live with that.


End file.
